Staged (comic) sequence in Zakopane

Identifier
irn1003380
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2003.214
  • RG-60.3943
Dates
1 Jan 1936 - 31 Dec 1936, 1 Jan 1937 - 31 Dec 1937
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • Silent
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Julien Hequembourg Bryan (1899-1974) was an American documentarian and filmmaker. Bryan traveled widely taking 35mm film that he sold to motion picture companies. In the 1930s, he conducted extensive lecture tours, during which he showed film footage he shot in the former USSR. Between 1935 and 1938, he captured unique records of ordinary people and life in Nazi Germany and in Poland, including Jewish areas of Warsaw and Krakow and anti-Jewish signs in Germany. His footage appeared in March of Time theatrical newsreels. His photographs appeared in Life Magazine. He was in Warsaw in September 1939 when Germany invaded and remained throughout the German siege of the city, photographing and filming what would become America's first cinematic glimpse of the start of WWII. He recorded this experience in both the book Siege (New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1940) and the short film Siege (RKO Radio Pictures, 1940) nominated for an Academy Award in 1940. In 1946, Bryan photographed the efforts of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency in postwar Europe.

Scope and Content

A comic sequence of an individual dressed in a furry bear costume who teases passersby on the streets of Zakopane in central Poland. CU of the bear hiding in bushes along the roadside. A young girl in traditional central Polish dress walks by on cue, and the bear jumps out of the bushes, feigning to attack the young girl. The girl laughs and plays along. Two takes of this action. The bear then proceeds to walk into the center of the road, and approach two men on a horse drawn cart. The bear plays with the cart and the horse, attempting to get the horse to move, eventually the driver of the carriage gets the horse moving again. The bear proceeds to harass another horse drawn carriage, then returns to the sidewalk and begins to flirt with two peasant women. They smile, but continue on their way. Cut to the bear sitting on the bench with a young man next to him, and a small dog at his feet. Two school boys in their uniforms pass by and pretend to be frightened. A woman walks past, puts her head down, and pays no attention. A young man approaches and they begin to struggle. In the BG, a hand painted sign reading: "Sabala" is visible hanging from the eaves of a buidling. A man stops to take a photograph of the young man fighting with the bear. The man hands the bear money in exchange for his services.

Note(s)

  • Additional photographs are available in the USHMM Photo Archives. The original title on the film can, as well as the original film leader indicate the year as 1936 and the location as Central Poland. This section contains film exclusively of Zakopane.

Subjects

Places

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.